


Janky Ol' Pencil

by Peripheral_Ambrosian



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Banter, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, He shouldn't have to but he's gonna kill it I swear, Moral Dilemmas, Siblings Being Mean, TCEST DNI, donnie getting mad at mysticism, living doodles, maybe some cursing, mikey out here trying to prove himself again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28135821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peripheral_Ambrosian/pseuds/Peripheral_Ambrosian
Summary: “So, our kid brother got himself scammed, huh?” Teased Leo, leaning forward in a smug flavor of inquiry. He’d been propped up on one of the ramps, offering provoking commentary since the beginning, but now he stepped over to lean on the youngest’s shoulder. “What was it like?”His remark earned unamused glares from Mikey and Raph, Donnie appeared indifferent. In fact, he’d since pulled out his phone.“It wasn’t a scam,Leo.She was a nice old lady! Said I had anartist’s eye.” Mikey countered, arms crossed.“Right.I bet she offered you that lollipop and charged for it after you stuck it in your mouth.”Mikey spat out the lolly stick, gasping at Blue’s cruel, cruel accusation.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Janky Ol' Pencil

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! Welcome to my first TMNT fanfic!
> 
> A friend and I came up with the concept, and since I've been craving more content, I started typing this sucker out at two in the morning. I tried to make it as episode-like as possible. It was fun! The banter was my favorite part of the show, bad puns and all. My problem is that it's so situational, you have to plot an entire setting _and_ story around it before you can start putting stuff down. So... that's what happened.

_“Voila!”_

Mikey brandished the item with exceptional flourish, imaginary bedazzlement and all, before allowing his brothers to gaze at its majesty.

Pinched between his finger and thumb was a pencil. Dulled tip with cheap, patterned plastic wrapping already frayed at the ends in the way that makes you want to pull it clean off. Astonishing. 

The four of them were seated in the lair’s center beside the skating ramps; they had just returned from another Hidden City escapade. However, before anyone could scuttle off to mess with their new items or process their experiences, Mikey— eyes wide and undeniable— had suggested they share a thing or two about their individual adventures. Now, it was his turn to present to the class.

“Annnnd it’s a used pencil.” Donnie deadpanned. Admittedly, he wasn’t expecting much, but this spectacle had disappointed him in more ways than he predicted.  
“I’m going back to my lab.” He announced, but as the nerd was fixing to leave his place on his bean bag, Raph held a hand out in front of him, effectively playing the Big Brother card. After a look at his brother, Donnie sunk back into the depths of the chair with a resigned sigh.

“Mikey...“ Raph began as his arm lowered, brows knit in concern, “how much did you spend on that thing?”  
He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, for lack of a seat that his shell wouldn’t puncture. 

“My money, my business!” Chirped the orange one, unfazed in the face of brotherly scrutiny. He was standing upright, still proudly presenting the pencil. Raph didn’t seem satisfied.

“ _Soooo,_ our kid brother got himself scammed, huh?” Teased Leo, leaning forward in a smug flavor of inquiry. He’d been propped up on one of the ramps, offering provoking commentary since the beginning, but now he stepped over to lean on the youngest’s shoulder. “What was it like?”

His remark earned unamused glares from Mikey and Raph, Donnie appeared indifferent. In fact, he’d since pulled out his phone. 

“It wasn’t a scam, _Leo_. She was a nice old lady! Said I had an _artist’s eye_.” Mikey countered, arms crossed.

“ _Right_. I bet she offered you that lollipop and charged for it after you stuck it in your mouth.” 

Mikey spat out the lolly stick, gasping at Blue’s cruel, cruel accusation.

“You know you’re gonna have to pick that—“

“ _JACQUELINE_ has a pair of GRANDKIDS she loves DEARLY.” 

“So you... let her charge you for the lollipop she gave you? Am I following this right?” Donnie asked, attention returned to the situation at hand. 

“I bought the lolli— ugh! The pencil’s magic, guys! I wouldn’ show off some janky old chunk of wood.” Mikey protested, indignant. The utensil was clutched defensively in one hand now, and the knowledge their youngest had been slighted by their skepticism urged Donnie to pull his bi-colored goggles over his eyes. True to Mikey’s word, the pencil glowed a soft orange against the purple visor.

“You could have led with that, but it’s definitely mystic.” Donnie comments, flipping his goggles back up. 

“Please, Donnie, it was about the _pre-sentation_. I thought _you’d_ understand!” Mikey pouts.

“Sorry, you lost me at the outdated stick.”

Leo snorted.

“Donnie.” Raph warns before turning back to his visibly deflated younger brother. “Don’t listen to ‘im. What’s it do, Mikey?” 

“Y’know what? Nevermind.” Mikey grumbles, shrugging Leo off and tucking the mystic item away. “Take five, team! Mikey’s got a _presentation_ to plan.”  
And with that, the box turtle took off. Once the echo of a door slamming sounded, Leo glanced from the remaining turtles to the general direction of Mikey’s room, then back again.

“... you guys wanna hear about my day?” He asked, his signature, self-assured smile spreading across his face.

“Leo—” Raph starts again, though by now he was certain he wouldn’t be heeded. Donnie was back on his phone, already tuned out.

“I thought you’d _never_ ask!”

\------------------

Mikey was holed up in his room for hours, sketching, erasing, shading, and of course, adding splashes of color where he could. It wasn’t as easy to throw colors around as it was when he was spray-painting, especially not when all he usually had were scavenged restaurant crayons and a reluctance to use the nicer supplies he and his brothers acquired over the years… at least for casual art. 

The actual drawings were a special case. He had siblings to prove wrong, after all. 

The first doodles were practice— little impressions of Mayhem and Lou Jitsu dotting the edges of the page, sketchy thumbnails of Jupiter Jim and Red Fox, and so on— then Mikey moved on to… his brothers. Once he sharpened the pencil, of course. He’d kept a sharpener on hand for when the lead inevitably grew dull and hard to work with. Jeez, this thing _is_ outdated.

Of course, the prospect of drawing his brothers after they took a massive dump on his show-and-tell was a blow to his pride, but Michelangelo was _emotionally available_ , not _stupid_. The quickest way to his family’s hearts was through their big, dumb heads. So his big, dumb brothers were drawn in simple poses, and Mikey went through the trouble of _coloring them in_. The _nerve_ of those guys.

Now, what did Jacqueline say about activating these guys? Right, uh, find the ones that are moving… Mikey’s eyes drifted across the page for a moment before realizing one of the more complete doodles of Mayhem was twitching its tail. The movement was rough, like watching a sketchy flipbook animation, extra lines appeared and disappeared as the picture continued to move.

“Whoa…” he breathed, angling the pencil’s tip at the doodle, as the old woman had told him to. Doodle Mayhem reached for it, creating depth where there was none. Soon, its tiny paw had broken, but not torn, the surface of the paper and gripped the tip of the pencil. Mikey’s eyes widened as his creation pulled itself from the two-dimensional confines of the page and chirruped at him in a voice that sounded like flipping pages. The original doodle was still on the piece of paper, but it had been rendered lifeless.

Mikey squeals, his entire demeanor pulled from pettiness into a state of _pure delight._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll try to hammer out the chapters every couple of weeks. Feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> Quick thanks to [Cxlesstial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxlesstial/pseuds/cxlesstial) for reading through this before I published.


End file.
